They say every cloud has a silver lining…my OH tested positive to covid on New Years Day, luckily we had celebrated New Year on zoom, rather than meeting up with friends. I was banished to upstairs to reduce the risk of me catching it.

We live in a dormer bungalow, so our main bedroom and bathroom are downstairs but we have three further bedrooms and a shower room upstairs…and one of the bedrooms is my sewing room! So I spent a week in my sewing room, such a hardship as you can imagine! Luckily he wasn’t too poorly with it and, touchwood, I haven’t caught it.

I did manage to make two skirts. At the Knitting and Stitch show in November I picked a remnant of cotton ponte, it feels really nice (especially compared to synthetic ponte) and it’s a lovely weight too, really drapey. I decided to make a skirt.

I went to my pattern boxes, looking for my favourite jersey skirt pattern, Simplicity 8474, I’ve made it up a few times now and they’re lovely to wear…

Instead I found a different pattern, Newlook 6269 which on the surface looked very similar. I decided to try it. I even got my newly serviced overlocker to work!

Everything looked fine until it came to the deep waistband. It was too big and bulky, even for allowing it to be an inch below the natural waist. I was very disappointed as the fabric is so nice. I decided to try and rescue it by recutting the waist and the top of the skirt pieces using the tried and tested pattern.

It looks 100% better, it’s not as full as the other two skirts and the waistband is deeper, but with the right top on it looks fine and I like wearing it. I’m getting brutal with my patterns though, the Newlook one is already in the bin!

The second skirt was made from some fabric my sister gave me a few years ago when she was clearing out a lot of her stash. I’m not sure what fabric it is, it feels like a fine suede on one side and satin finish on the other. My first decision was which was the right side, I couldn’t even tell by looking at the black embroidered pattern! I decided the suede side was more me.

I decided to use Vogue pattern 9090. It’s one of their Very Easy Very Vogue range. I made it in the summer in a cotton poplin and it turned out really nice, the picture on the envelope really isn’t very inspiring but it’s actually a lovely pattern. Here’s my summer version…

…I really need to start varying the tops I wear for photo’s! I’ve also realised the difference between my OH taking photos and my daughter. Helen will suggest I pull my cardigan down a bit or jumper up a bit…or comb my hair! Whereas my OH at the most says hold your belly in – I’ve found it’s very difficult to hold your belly in and smile at the same time!!

I quite fancy trying it in a light weight wool and this red fabric was a good test of how it would turn out. It went together beautifully, I even had a fair attempt at pattern matching down the back seam though as only the dots have come out on the photo you can’t tell! It fit’s nicely and it even has pockets!!

I love it, I’m just going to have to be careful the first few times I wear and wash it. I’ve never had dye come off fabric just from handling it! I now have a red tinged ironing mat and cloth, even my sewing machine is pink on the corners!! I’m thinking of getting some Retayne or equivalent to soak it before I wear it – I dread to think what could happen if I got caught in the rain, or sat on a light coloured sofa!

Other than the colour issue, it’s worked well in the heavier fabric, so I think I’ll try one of my Abraham Moon fabrics next.